Science Glance
Sometime on Oct. 21 of last year, high above the Arctic Circle, a lone missile shot skyward from a Russian island.
The missile flew northeast and then banked and began flying in loops for hours over the barren, frozen landscape.
According to Russian and Western sources, the new weapon, known in Russian as Burevestnik and by NATO as Skyfall, was powered by a small nuclear reactor. Few other details were forthcoming.
Now, two MIT researchers have published an analysis that sheds fresh light on how the nuclear-powered missile actually worked. If they are correct, the October flight test marks the first time a nuclear-powered aircraft has ever flown. It would also suggest the opening of an extraordinarily dangerous new chapter in the 21st century's simmering arms race.
"This is something that is possible, but wildly expensive and very dangerous," said Jake Hecla, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a dual appointment in both aerospace and nuclear science and engineering, who led the new analysis along with co-author R. Scott Kemp.
‘This would have been a wild dream a year ago,” says Andrea Ceccolini, standing on Arctic sea ice just a 4-mile snowmobile ride from the Inuit town of Cambridge Bay, northern Canada. To his left are sky blue ponds of meltwater created in the last few days by a sun that no longer sets in the high north summer. To his right, the sea ice is still a brilliant white, the light dusting of snow on top continuing to sparkle.
Time to look up, stargazers – there’s going to be a planetary "kiss" on June 9.
Standing in his laboratory, Harvard professor Sean Eddy gazes at a row of vacant work stations. More than a year ago, this lab was filled with over a dozen researchers. On a given day they might be working independently on analyzing genomic sequencing or gathered around the group table, drinking coffee and helping each other troubleshoot questions about genomic data from different species.
Brilliant splashes of green, purple and pink will streak the night sky for many stargazers in North America on Saturday and Sunday night, as energized particles from space collide with the Earth's atmosphere to create the dazzling effect, known as the Northern Lights or aurora borealis.
Officials are investigating whether a huge fire that destroyed a top marine science laboratory at the University of South Florida may have been caused by a lightning strike.
The highest levels of the federal government are paying attention to a list of people who have gone missing or died, citing concerns about their connections to scientific research, some of it potentially classified.
